Christmas Letter from Ginny
Dear friend,
Well, it’s nearly that time once more…Christmas. Here we are all wondering, yet again, where did the year go? As things wrap up and we frantically busy ourselves so that we can slow down for that all important day of the year, I hope you can take some time yourself to read this.
Living Every Moment – It’s the endline to our new logo. Makes sense for a hospice, don’t you think? A place where time is so pertinent that every moment is precious and needs to be special. Money, possessions,corporate-climbing, beautifying…all these things fall to the wayside when time is short and we actually get an insight into what means the most to us in life.
That’s why Christmas is so great…the world actually attempts to standstill so that we can have a day of just being with loved ones and creating another memory to add to the lifebank. For these reasons, we encourage and support hospice patients to have Christmas in their own homes and this results in less inpatients at this time of year. However this simply isn’t an option for everyone and we commonly have a few patients being cared for here at the hospice.
So how do we make Christmas special? Usually we have lovely gifts donated from other charitable associations and church groups. The food, which is always delicious, is especially so on this day. Carol singers and bands perform. And staff try to make things as festive as possible! We have lots of fabulous decorations, many handmade by staff and volunteers. They decorate food trays, medicines and even dress up in Christmas theme. Friends and family members are of course encouraged to stay and share a Christmas meal.
Although an ill family member is an added stress to the holiday period, which can be pretty taxing as it is, they also add an extra reason for us all to savour every second of the day. That’s why we go the extra, extra mile to celebrate Christmas and any other events we can here at the hospice.
One event this year that we were determined to make memorable for our patient
Barry was his daughter Sophie’s wedding. His doctors - Dave, Sue, Tom and Anne - dedicated themselves to trying to get him well for the Barry’s Nurses with the beautful bride and mother-of-the bride.big day. Sharon our Nurse Director offered the family the option of holding the wedding here, as has been done before. Sadly, Barry didn’t make it to the wedding…he died the night before.
Bravely the family carried on with the wedding ceremony at the originally planned venue, but before the reception they made a special trip back to the same hospice room where Barry had passed away only hours before. They wanted to feel closer to Barry and celebrate the day with him, so the nurses organised some champagne and fresh flowers.
They took gorgeous photos in front of the tree in full blossom and Sophie said that the thing she loved the most about the moment was the fact that she could still smell her dad and even feel his presence there in the room with them.
Afterwards Barry’s wife Bridget wrote us the most touching letter and I want to share some of it with you here:
“Sophie and Danny’s wedding day warms my heart each time I think of it. The girls and I will always cherish that time on a day that could have been so hard and so sad…it wasn’t, it was special. Life now is hard, sad and unreal at times without Barry, but having memories such as the time spent with you all helps our healing. Thank you for helping Barry to live – laugh and dance again and for allowing me to be his carer as well as his wife!”
I think Bridget’s sentiments capture the importance of celebrating life moments with all your gusto! From all of us here at the hospice, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family and thank you once again for
helping us bring some Christmas Joy to some of the terminally ill in our community.
Your support really makes a huge difference. Please take this moment to appreciate how important your contribution is to helping make each day the best day possible for our patients and their families.